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Bertha Jaques: Eye on the World
May 25 - September 15, 2013

Bertha Jaques, a one-time Cedar Rapidian, was a pioneering printmaker who not only succeeded in a field dominated by male artists, but also helped to promote etching in America as a writer, teacher, and co-founder of the Chicago Society of Etchers. Traveling extensively between 1902 and 1912, Jaques often recorded the sites she saw on her travels, from Europe to Japan. These were not generally the tourist attractions, but rather the hidden sites of the places she visited, seeking to capture the true essence of those places. This exhibition focuses on these revealing images of her world travels. More Info >>

From Houdini to Hugo: The Art of Brian Selznick
June 15 - September 29, 2013

Continuing its long tradition of presenting children’s illustrated literature as an art form, the CRMA is hosting an exhibition of the art of Brian Selznick to coincide with the completion of the new Cedar Rapids Public Library. Selznick has illustrated more than 25 children’s books, both those written by him as well as by other authors. These include subjects as diverse as school life to farm life, from dinosaurs to dulcimers, from opera singer Marian Anderson and writer Walt Whitman to aviatrix Amelia Earhart and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. More Info >>

Bertha Jaques: Eye on America
September 28, 2013 - January 5, 2014

Jaques’ full impact on printmaking and photography at the dawn of the 20th century is still under-recognized and ripe for reappraisal. Born in 1863, this series of three exhibitions celebrate the 150th anniversary of Jaques’ birth and allows insights into not only her superb botanical etchings, but also many of her etchings from her travels across the globe, as well as her travels here in the United States. More Info >>

Some Assembly Required: Collage and Assemblage
October 19, 2013 - January 26, 2014

In the 19th century, before the emergence of the term collage, the gluing together bits of paper—tickets, photographs, printed texts—was largely a craft, a technique used for scrapbooks and other domestic memorabilia. In the early 20th century, however, European artists such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso started to incorporate bits of paper into their paintings, elevating the activity of collage into a fine art. Collage was born. Assemblage, the three-dimensional equivalent of collage, was not far behind, also popularized by artists such as Picasso. More Info >>

Conger Metcalf
January 18 - May 11, 2014

Born in Cedar Rapids, Conger Metcalf began his art studies at the Stone City Art Colony, after which he enrolled at Coe College and studied under Marvin Cone. After graduating from Coe in 1936, Metcalf studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which was to become his home, although he always maintained close ties to Cedar Rapids. During his service in World War II and on subsequent trips afterward, Metcalf studied the European masters, who were very influential on his work. This exhibition, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Metcalf’s birth in 1914, looks at the CRMA’s extensive holdings of his art. More Info >>

Papier Françias: French Works on Paper
February 15 - May 25, 2014

While best known for its exemplary collection of American art, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art also possesses an extensive collection of French works, mostly works on paper. Due largely to the generosity of Peter O. Stamats, this collection stretches from the 17th century prints of Jaques Callot documenting the disasters of war, through the Rococo works of Jean-Honoré Fragonard in the 18th century, to landscapes and city life in the 19th century, and modernist works by Picasso, Braque, and others in the 20th century. More Info >>

Marvin Cone on My Mind: The Ceramics of Dean Schwarz
March 15 - November 2, 2014

Painter, writer, and teacher Dean Schwarz is best known as a potter. Recently, Schwarz has created a distinct series of pots, along with his son Gunnar, inspired by Cone’s paintings. This exhibition pairs many of Marvin Cone’s paintings with several of Schwarz’s pots, creating a unique conversation between the two media and the two artists. More Info >>

Carl Van Vechten: Photographer to the Stars
May 24 - September 7, 2014

Cedar Rapids native Carl Van Vechten attended the University of Chicago after graduating from Washington High School in 1898. He was hired as an assistant music critic by The New York Times and eventually became the first American critic of modern dance in 1909. Van Vechten wrote several books on music and literature in the 1920s and, in the 1930s, he began to take portrait photographs of the many significant artists, dancers, and writers in New York. His interest in the black writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance caused him to write on the subject and to photograph some of the movement’s luminaries, for which he is perhaps best known. More Info >>

Grant Wood: American Impressionist
June 14 - September 21, 2014

While Grant Wood is best known as an American Regionalist painter, he only arrived at his “signature” mature style around 1930. In the remaining 12 years before his untimely death in 1942, Wood produced several seminal works, although his total output was limited due to his teaching at the University of Iowa and his role as director of WPA art projects in Iowa. More Info >>